666 Days of MetalThe greatest metal albums of all-time2014-09-18T11:49:12Zhttp://666daysofmetal.com/feed/atom/WordPressChazzLCaminohttp://www.facebook.com/bandshowhttp://666daysofmetal.com/?p=24892014-09-18T11:49:12Z2014-09-18T11:45:33ZThis is a first in a series of posts dissecting this list. Question: Which band had the most albums appear on this list? The answer probably won’t surprise you, but a look at the 11 bands that had five or more records on this list might. There were roughly 15 more bands that had four albums each on this list so we’ll cap it at these 11. As the title of this post suggests it’s takes a blend of both talent and longevity to have five or more albums considered some of the best of the genre. Here they are…

Black Sabbath – 10 albums

Iron Maiden – 8

Judas Priest – 6

Motorhead – 6

Opeth – 6

Bathory – 5

Darkthrone – 5

Death – 5

Neurosis – 5

Slayer – 5

Testament – 5

Some surprising takeaways here. The first being I didn’t even realize myself that Opeth had more albums on this list than only four other bands until I looked at the numbers. Again, their ability to make quality albums over a long period of time has clearly paid off. I also found it interesting that Testament had more albums on this list than Metallica and Megadeth. While both Metallica and Megadeth had albums that ranked way higher than anything Testament has done, Testament has been making quality albums for way longer (including some of their recent material). It also shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone at this point that a band like Neurosis had as many albums up here as they did. My love for them knows no bounds.

It starts with the pitter-patter of rain. A lone bell chimes in the distance. Then with the crushing reverberation of a handful of notes, heavy metal music as we know it today is born…

Black Sabbath released their debut album on February 13, 1970 in the UK through Vertigo Records. (June 1 here in the U.S. through Warner Brothers.) It is widely accepted by several reputable sources to be the demarcation line between hard rock and heavy metal. The unholy womb from whence heavy metal came crawling out of. The Blues were often considered the “Devil’s music” but in reality this is where music fans would start to wear the proverbial black mark. It’s not just the lyrical content or the inverted cross on the inside of the original album sleeve (of which the band knew nothing before the album’s release). No, this album seethed a kind of malicious intent, a kind of bewitching ethos that no other album had ever delivered before. You can argue all you want about the heaviness of a band like Led Zeppelin but Zeppelin themselves would admit they were nothing more than the Blues on steroids. (Hell, they stole enough riffs and song segments from the old Blues musicians of the 30′s through 60′s.) But Black Sabbath was more than just some meaty, down tuned Blues riffs. They were darker and more malevolent than Zeppelin or any other band in the world. Period.

When I was piecing this list together there were a lot of albums I hemmed and hawed about including because of their designation as hard rock vs. heavy metal. There was never any question at all about Sabbath’s inclusion. Yes, heavy metal owes a huge debt to the Blues and to a myriad of hard rock bands from the 1960′s. But for all intents and purposes heavy metal was born with this album and it’s the album that gave birth to pretty much everything that came after it. This may not be the most technically proficient Black Sabbath record. It certainly isn’t the one with the best production as the entire album was recorded in one 12 hour session. (Although I thoroughly adore the stripped down production of this album and I think it lends to the grittiness and mystique.) But if for no other reason than it came before anything else, then it needs to be considered the most essential of the lot.

Whenever anyone who wasn’t into Sabbath has asked me what record they should start with I have always told them this one. Forget for a moment that I personally love discovering band discographies in chronological order. You have to start at the beginning to really appreciate what came after and the way this album sets the table for over 40 years of glorious heavy metal. Some of the greatest metal songs ever written are on this album – “N.I.B.“, “The Wizard“, the title track, and my personal favorite, “Behind the Wall of Sleep“. The entire album is stellar from beginning to end.

This is where it all began, and for now, after 666 days, it’s where we end…

I think we’ve firmly established over these last 665 days that Iron Maiden is one of the greatest bands to ever exist on planet Earth. Their contributions to the metal world and the number of classic albums/songs they’ve produced are second in my mind to only one band. They are the greatest band of their generation and arguably still the greatest band in the world today, because frankly no one has come close to replicating what this band did on their most classic material. This album is the most classic of them all.

The Number of the Beast was Iron Maiden’s third full-length album, originally released in 1982 via EMI. As everyone is well aware, it’s the first album to feature the mighty Bruce Dickinson on vocals. It also happens to be the final album with Clive Burr on drums, and his dismissal from the band certainly couldn’t have been due to his playing on this record because he’s exceptional. So after original vocalist Paul Di’Anno was unceremoniously ousted from the band they clearly went in a different direction with vocal style and the music ever since has reflected that. However this album was really a bridge album between the Di’Anno years and the subsequent Dickinson era. There are a handful of tracks on this record – “Gangland” and “22 Acacia Avenue” for example – that I could totally picture Di’Anno singing. This album though isn’t about a band awkwardly transitioning from one very distinct vocalist to another very distinct but very different vocalist. No, this album is the absolute best of both worlds. The more progressive elements of future records would meet the rawness of the first two albums and wed in sonic perfection.

It’s not a mystery why Iron Maiden still chooses to fill their set with at least half of this album every single night on tour. Some of the greatest songs in metal history appear on this record. The title track, “Run to the Hills“, “The Prisoner“, “Hallowed Be Thy Name“, are all still live staples and songs that still invoke the same kind of rise out of metal fans that they did over 30 years ago. The Number of the Beast would be Iron Maiden’s first album to go to #1 on the U.K. album charts and has sold something like 14 million albums worldwide. You could even argue that this was the album that solidified metal as a genre to be reckoned with. Before this album it might have been easy for non-fans to brush metal off as a fad but after the success of this album, by a band that clearly knew what they were doing in the studio as well as on stage, there was no turning back for the genre as a whole. It’s no coincidence that metal exploded in popularity around the time of this album’s release. It’s an album that topped everything else that had ever come out of the NWOBHM scene and helped give credence to the burgeoning thrash genre. The importance of this record absolutely can not be understated.

Listen, I know I’ve made a ton of comments about how not owning certain albums would lead to poseur status, me not wanting to be your friend, etc., etc. But seriously, if you don’t own this record I honestly feel bad for you. There’s no other way to put it.

Right after Metallica released Master of Puppets was when I first started to really go deep into the metal realm. I was a fan of gateway bands like Black Sabbath and AC/DC and bands I had pulled out of my father’s record collection – Led Zeppelin, Blue Cheer, Jimi Hendrix, etc. I was only 11 at the time and was living in the sticks so trying to find heavier music was relegated to me either trying to get a signal from the local college radio stations or beginning the following year try to stay awake long enough to watch Headbanger’s Ball on MTV (which admittedly rarely happened then). So one of my main sources of heavy music back then were the older brothers of some of the kids I grew up with. While their musical tastes matched those of the mainstream – Motley Crue, Twisted Sister, Ozzy, etc. – they would occasionally pull out a band that I had never heard before that I loved enough to build up the courage to ask these dudes, who were anywhere from 6-10 years older than me, who they were listening to. On one fateful day it was Metallica. I was hooked. I begged my mother for an early allowance so I could buy the cassette version of what I heard at the local mall. It was this album and it was one of several from that time that have been life-changing.

Very recently I was having a discussion with two other gentlemen about Metallica. I mentioned that my personal favorite Metallica record happens to be this one. (After I fell out of love with Metallica in the 90′s this was the only record I held onto as I decided I was going to disown this band completely…but couldn’t let go of this record.) One of the guys in said conversation then remarked that only people who heard this album first, love this album most when it comes to Metallica and that if your first experience was some other Metallica record than it’s almost impossible that this can be your favorite Metallica album. I found this to be a pretty astute and profound statement. Now, is that statement 100% fool-proof? Of course not. But you’d be hard pressed I think to prove it wrong if you did some scientific research on it. So here I sit, admitting to you that this was the first Metallica record I ever heard front to back and it is indeed the greatest thing they ever did in my mind.

Kill ‘Em All is their debut album and was originally released in 1983 via Megaforce Records. This record has now gone Platinum multiple times over but that wasn’t the case upon its release. In fact it wouldn’t be certified Platinum until three years later…when they happened to release Master of Puppets. I mentioned before but it’s worth saying again: There were not as many Metallica fans in the world prior to 1986 as there are today. In fact by their now lofty standards you could say that this album kind of flopped upon its initial release. Now in the real world in which the rest of us reside, this album actually did pretty well upon release and scored them tours with bands like Raven and Venom who were huge in the metal underground in 1983. It’s probably the only time in their careers that they matched up sonically with bands like Raven and Venom too.

To say that Kill ‘Em All is rawer and more harrowing than anything else they’ve ever done is an absolute understatement. The vocals are almost unrecognizable compared to the near baritone ‘Yeah-Yeahs’ that Hetfield spews today. The songs are faster and more technically intricate (thanks Dave Mustaine!) and even Lars seems to find a place to compliment the music on this album, as opposed to holding it back like he does on other albums. But why do I have this Metallica album ranked ahead of all other Metallica records, and ahead of all but two other albums? Two reasons. The first is because it was first. This is the album that launched one of the most successful careers in the history of metal. There needs to be some respect given for that, especially knowing the ridiculous circumstances this album was recorded under. (Thanks again Dave Mustaine!) Secondly, and most important, when you think of thrash metal, when you think of the quintessential albums of the genre you should be thinking about this record. No other Metallica album represented thrash metal the way this one does and it does it at a time when thrash was still in its infancy. This album raised the bar for an entire genre of music in ways that no other album from this band ever did or could. Period.

Slayer’s legacy seems to have taken a bit of a hit these last couple years. Sub-par recordings, inter-band strife, the untimely death of Jeff Hanneman and the band’s controversial decision to continue on without him, etc., etc., etc. But nothing that happens, nothing that gets said, nothing that is done will or should ever tarnish the legacy of this album. Easily one of the greatest extreme metal records of all-time.

Reign in Blood was Slayer’s third full-length album, originally released in 1986 through Def Jam (and distributed by Geffen originally). It was shorter, faster, heavier, meaner and more malicious than anything they had ever recorded before or since. (It also happens to be the cleanest recording they’ve ever made which helped to highlight all that sonic nastiness like never before.) The fact that it was their major label debut makes it nothing short of a miracle that this album even saw the light of day. The fact that it was certified Gold shortly after its release – with virtually no radio airplay, no real promotion behind it because everyone at all of these labels were afraid of it (Columbia was Def Jam’s distributor at the time and they refused to touch it because of lyrical content and artwork) – make it an even bigger miracle of a record. It’s almost as if this album was meant to be bestowed upon us.

Only three of the ten songs on the original pressing crack the three-minute mark. The entire record clocks in at just under a half hour. Slayer were always fond of talking about how much good punk rock influenced them as kids (as evidenced later by that not-so-good punk covers record), but it wasn’t until this record that their punk influences actually showed up. The burgeoning crossover-thrash scene also had a major influence on this band at this point and I alluded to it in other posts but the earliest forms of black and death metal certainly had their influences as well. The beauty of it is though, not only did Slayer blow away all the competition with this record but they in turn became one of the biggest influences on all of these scenes, even more so than they may have been with their two previous efforts. Death metal, black metal, and especially thrash owe this record a massive, massive debt. (Can a band be influenced by a scene and then turn around and become THE influence on that scene? I’d enter this album as Exhibit A that, yes, indeed they can.)

Everyone knows “Angel of Death” and “Raining Blood“. They are two of the most iconic thrash songs of all-time. But for my money the combo of “Altar of Sacrifice” into “Jesus Saves” is possibly Slayer’s finest hour. Regardless of what tracks you happen to gravitate to, the fact remains that you are listening to one of the most influential metal records of all-time.

Turn on any classic rock station in the world and there’s a pretty good chance that after awhile, especially on a Friday afternoon, you’re going to hear one of three Black Sabbath songs. The only three Black Sabbath songs radio plays at all (with the exception of their brief flirtations with the lead single off their most recent album). All three of those tracks come off this record. I’m pretty positive that it’s this record alone that finally put Black Sabbath in the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame. It’s an album with some of the most recognizable songs in metal history…and it still sounds fantastic.

Paranoid was the second full-length album from Sabbath, originally released in 1970 via Vertigo Records (actually January of 1971 here in the U.S. through Warner Brothers). It stands as one of only two Sabbath albums to ever top the U.K. album charts and the title track is the only song they ever recorded that cracked the Top 20 on the U.K. charts. Here in the States it’s gone Platinum four times over and cracked the Top 15 on the U.S. album charts. It stands, still to this day, as their most popular album. The title track, “War Pigs” and “Iron Man” (the three songs I alluded to above), along with “Fairies Wear Boots” have been concert staples for this band for the last 40+ years. It can not be understated how important and influential this album wound up being.

But it’s not just album sales that make an album influential. All the accolades are great but there’s been some pretty awful music that’s sold a ton of records. What makes this album so great is that it still sounds so phenomenal. “Iron Man” might contain the greatest guitar riff ever written, certainly the greatest opening to a song ever penned. Meanwhile, hidden gems like “Hand of Doom” and “Electric Funeral” are just as good, if not better than the tracks that grab all the headlines. “War Pigs” when played live still has the power to raise the hairs on the back of your neck. (Nothing better than when they blast the air raid siren through the P.A. and Tony Iommi starts hitting those opening notes. Getting chills thinking about it.) It’s also important to note that this album continued where the first album left off as far as separating Black Sabbath from pretty much every other band in the world at the time. Very few bands combined the heaviness of the music with the dark lyrical matter and darker imagery the way that Sabbath did and those that did couldn’t keep up. If the first record spewed forth from Hell itself, then this album was Satan taking a big, smoldering crap all over the hippie culture of the day.

While the average fan may have tired of hearing some of these tracks because of the popularity of them, there is still zero excuse to not own this record. It’s a brilliant example of the best band of their era at the top of their game.

Iron Maiden. I’m not really sure I could say much more about this band at this point that I haven’t already said half a dozen times over. So let’s cut the small talk and dive right into this one.

Killers was Maiden’s second full-length album, originally released in 1981 on EMI Records (Capitol Records here in the U.S.). It’s notable for a bunch of reasons. It is, of course, the last album to feature Paul Di’Anno on vocals. It’s also the first album to feature Adrian Smith on guitar. Two huge developments that would not only affect the history of this band, but really the history of metal in general. It’s also worth noting that this was the first album the band worked with Martin Birch as their producer. He’s the reason why they went from the first album sounding hollow and somewhat poorly produced to this album having a rich and dynamic sound to it. He’d go on to produce all of their albums through Fear of the Dark in 1992. He clearly knew what he was doing.

More than just being well-produced, this album is extremely well written. That seems like such a massive understatement for an album sitting firmly in the Top 10 of this list but it’s important to note because this album was written almost solely by bassist Steve Harris. While Dave Murray and Adrian Smith (and to a lesser extent Bruce Dickinson) would take on more songwriting duties as the years and albums went on, at this point in their careers it was still the Steve Harris show as far as songwriting was concerned. Because of that this album still maintains a lot of the punk rock edge that the first album carried. I’m not saying Maiden wrote songs akin to say Motörhead, but there’s a grittiness to the first two albums that they polished away after Di’Anno left the band. Maybe it was just them adapting to an extremely different vocal style, or maybe it was simply the difference between Steve Harris writing all of the music and not.

Regardless of the reasons this album maintains a nasty edge to it from start to finish. That tenaciousness in style gave birth to some of the most underrated songs this band ever wrote – “Wrathchild“, “Murders in the Rue Morgue“, “Drifter“, “Purgatory“, and the title track. Not to mention that Di’Anno delivers a brilliant performance on this album. I’m generally glad that Dickinson came along but I would have loved to see Di’Anno form another band worthy of those first two Maiden records. There will be those who may question having this album ranked as high as it is, but I challenge to find another record written at this time that was as stout in production, delivery and presentation as this album. It stands as not only one of the greatest albums to ever emerge out of the NWOBHM scene but one of the greatest metal albums of all time. Period.

Out of all the bands on this list very few have had the longevity of Judas Priest. Even fewer have had a discography so interesting and so full of ups and downs and twists and turns. They began as a hard rock band with prog influences, shifted to an early style of metal that helped the NWOBHM scene emerge and then finally to the leather-clad “metal” sound which they became famous for. This was not only one of their most successful albums in terms of sales, it’s also arguably the most “metal” album this band ever produced.

Screaming for Vengeance was Priest’s eight full length album, originally released on CBS Records here in the U.S. in 1982. When you think of quintessential Judas Priest unfortunately most people think of the British Steel album and that’s almost solely because their most famous song, “Breaking the Law” which of course appeared on that album. What if I told you this album has sold almost twice as many copies here in the U.S. alone? True story. While it’s rare for me to say that an album that ranks as one of the biggest selling albums in a band’s canon is also their best, that is exactly the case here. The beauty of it though is this is one of their best selling albums…and also happens to be one of their heaviest.

While the big radio hit off this album that propelled a huge portion of sales is absolutely not a particularly heavy track (“You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’“) and the album did feature a couple other tracks that kept in line with what appeared on the Point of Entry album, the overall vibe of this album is about as metal as you can get. “The Hellion/Electric Eye” is a metal masterpiece but it’s not even the best track on the record as that distinction gets battled out between “Riding on the Wind” and the title track. The entire album is a showcase for just how amazing Rob Halford’s vocal range could be while the guitar duo of Downing and Tipton are at the absolute top of their game.

With all due respect to some of their earlier releases, for my money Screaming for Vengeance was the first entirely metal album this legendary band would produce. No other album Priest had ever done had the impact on metal, especially thrash metal the way this album did. Everything about this album seethes metal in ways that no other efforts did and laid the groundwork for material that rivaled this album in speed and heaviness. The concept of Judas Priest being these warriors of metal was really born with this album because they simply had never done anything like this prior. While others may argue that a different album(s) from the seven previous efforts deserve a higher ranking, I’d vehemently disagree, if for no other reason than the proof is in the songwriting, the record sales, and the impact this album had on the metal world at large.

Somewhere in the vortex between the “traditional” heavy metal of the late 70′s/early 80′s and the thrash revolution that followed shortly thereafter lives a handful of bands that are virtually undefinable. Theirs is a sound that not only bridged the gap between the two scenes, but helped launch the careers of hundreds of other bands that would go on to form dozens of other sub genres. One of the most influential bands out of this lot is Denmark’s Mercyful Fate.

After the release of a highly sought-after EP, Mercyful Fate would sign to the brand new Roadrunner Records label and release their debut full-length album, Melissa in 1983 (via Megaforce originally here in the U.S.). This would be the first album the legendary label would release and it would be the first Mercyful Fate material to receive worldwide distribution. Mercyful Fate starts with King Diamond. He’s not only one of the most recognizable figures in the history of metal but his vocals are absolutely unmistakeable. No one, and I mean no one, hits the high notes the way King does (which, incidentally, is also pretty much the only reason I’ve ever heard anyone give for not liking this band). Really though the true strength behind this band and this album are the twin guitar attack of Hank Shermann and Michael Denner. I’ve said it before, but these two are the most underrated guitar duo in metal history. They were never the flashiest players, they never soloed for the sake of showing everyone how awesome their dexterity was. But dammit could they write some killer riffs and catchy hooks. I find myself humming guitar lines for days after listening to this album. It’s potent stuff.

Mercyful Fate’s legacy begins with this album. Yes, after an initial break-up, they regrouped and have continued to record and tour over the years. But the first two, pre-break up albums were, and continue to be, two of the most influential pieces of metal lore. This album is especially important, not just because it introduced the world to a killer band, but because the material on this album would be used to help launch a myriad of styles and genres that didn’t exist prior (or were in an infancy stage like thrash was at the time). The big one we often here is black metal. While I hesitate to lump this album into the same category as albums from the likes of Venom or Bathory, I am wont to give credit where credit is due and there is no denying that from at least a visual and lyrical standpoint Mercyful Fate’s influence on black metal is immense. Very, very few bands had the openly Satanic lyrics and imagery like Mercyful Fate did at this time. That has to account for something. Yet, at the end of the day this album didn’t make the Top 10 because they decided to put a creepy photo of King Diamond inside an inverted cross on the back cover. Mercyful Fate was and always will be about the music first. Behind King Diamond and four amazingly underrated musicians this band succeeded in creating an album that still to this day sounds as heavy, as eerie, and as downright sinister as it did over 30 years ago.

So before we go any further lets get the Metallica vs. Megadeth comparisons out of the way for one final time (because frankly I get really, really tired of writing about it). Both bands have four albums on this list. If you had a composite ranking Metallica’s albums would, as a whole, come out on top. We even still have one Metallica record left after this. So, no, I’m not calling Megadeth the ‘better’ band, nor am I going to lay claim that they somehow influenced more people than Metallica. However, for my money if I needed to have one album from either band with me on a desert island…I’m taking this one. It’s heavier, faster, nastier, and more technically proficient than anything Metallica ever recorded and for those reasons alone I personally consider this the best record either band recorded.

Rust In Peace was Megadeth’s fourth full-length album, originally released in 1990 on Capitol Records. The fact that it was released in 1990 makes it the highest ranking album from the 90′s on this list. Pretty prestigious. It’s also an album that literally helped save thrash metal, or at least stave off its inevitable decline. By the end of the 80′s there were so, so many pretenders out there and most of them had major label record deals thanks to the success of bands like Megadeth and Metallica. It was painful to watch. Even Metallica had started their downward decent at this point. Then this album came out and it was literally like an atom bomb, just laying waste to everything in its path. A thing of beauty, wrapped in some of the sickest guitar playing ever recorded. Thrash would eventually peter out, unfortunately replaced in mainstream record stores by crappy nu-metal bands, before it’s most recent resurrection. But the demise of the original thrash scene would have gone down about three years sooner if it wasn’t for this album.

The Megadeth discography is a somewhat bizarre one. They start off a little sloppy, tighten it up to produce two of the greatest metal records of all-time and then…they kind of fell off a pretty steep cliff. While Countdown to Extinction had some enjoyable moments, it pales in comparison to this album on pretty much every level. If Megadeth was trying to write more accessible music after this album, then the two albums after Rust In Peace certainly succeed in that area. While Megadeth gained the international acclaim that Dave Mustaine always craved, the band sacrificed a lot of their angst, speed and heaviness for it. But then again, so did Metallica so I guess it’s that whole circle of life, the serpent-eats-his-tail sort of thing.

When seeking out this album, please avoid any and all remasters. The original recording is now out of print which is downright sinful because what we are left with is Mustaine’s attempt to practically re-record this album, including vocals for certain songs that just sound heinous. I’m all for an artist having creative control over their art, but if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it.

Uh oh. The Top 10 starts off with a bit of an upset doesn’t it. Isn’t this album supposed to be in the Top 3 or 5 all-time? It is on every other list ever made. Let’s start first with what I said a couple entries ago – from this point forward every album could be Top 5, so don’t freak out. Besides there are 656 other albums that would love to occupy this spot I’m guessing…

Master of Puppets was Metallica’s third full-length album, originally released in 1986, their first offering officially for Elektra Records. It is considered by many reputable sources as not only the greatest thrash record of all-time but possibly the greatest metal record of all-time. It was the first thrash record ever certified Platinum and since then has gone Platinum six times over. Songs from this album have appeared in major motion pictures. The legacy and influence of this record have never been in doubt. It’s also the final record to feature Cliff Burton on bass and I don’t think we have to mention how they were never really able to properly replace one of the greatest bass players in metal history.

For all it’s kudos and sales though I’m going to argue later that it’s not the most important Metallica record, let alone the most important thrash record. Listen, let me be perfectly honest with my readers here. Metallica is ruined for me. I still remember the exact day I heard this album for the first time. Like millions of other kids getting into metal at this time it was a life-changing experience. This record had everything – killer riffs, intricate songs that despite their length held your interest, angry, poignant lyrics, rad album artwork, etc., etc., etc. – it was the total package and is probably why so many people around my age <cough, closing in on 40, cough> rank this album so damn high. But after a band has been ruined for you, after the sheen and the gloss of your love for them has been peeled away you start to look at every song, every note differently. It’s hard to explain but it’s almost like hearing the album for the first time again. It actually breaks my metal heart a little bit thinking about it because it’s like having great memories of your childhood erased forever. I’ve never loved another band as much as Metallica where the love completely wore off. It’s like a bad break-up. It’s horrible.

So why did I go into all of that? Because I’m trying to give you some insight into how much thought I put into this list and especially these top 10-15 albums. No matter where you personally rank this record there is no doubting that it’s a must own. However, the fact that this is one of the best selling albums by the best selling metal band of all-time makes people automatically assume it’s the greatest thing ever. Wrong. It’s still an amazing album, but again, there are thrash albums (and even one other Metallica record) that are more essential than this one for various reasons. I think that any band that has had the run in popularity that Metallica has unfortunately gets a shinier historical polishing than other bands. I would ask those that have ranked this as the greatest metal album ever one question…why? Thrash metal was moving in a more progressive direction before this album came along and there were and would be bands that played faster, heavier and more technical. It had little to no bearing on any of the extreme genres that would come later. So what does this album have that other great albums don’t that make it so special in the eyes of metal historians? Is it simply album sales? Is it the fact that it reached mainstream America in ways that other metal records didn’t? (Although I’m willing to bet the majority of all Metallica record sales came after the Black album, meaning most people today who consider themselves Metallica fans were not in 1986.) Maybe this is a rhetorical question with no quantifiable answer seeing as music is the most subjective topic in the world?